Control system for automatic stokers



. 15, 1936.J s.,c.s|-||P|.EY

` CONTROL SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC STOKER'S s sheets-sheet 1 Filed April 20,' 1932 [Nvt/vra@ 5 YL www C /f/PL fr Dec- 15 1935 si Ac. sHlPLEY 2,063,898

ooN'xnoL SYSTEM Fon AUTOMATIC STQKERS Filed April 20, 1932 5 Shets-shee' 2 frana/Fys ls. c. sHlPLEY "CONTROL SYSTEM FQR AUTOMATIC STOKERS Filed April 2o, 19324 s sheets-sheet s l f ven/v rok 5 n www/s, C 5/f/PLFr memes nee. lis, 193e UNITED- STATES PATEN'E Ossis coNraoL SYSTEM son promesso i eresmas Sylvsnns C.- Shipley, Minneapolis, Minn., assigner to Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Eompamy, Minneapolis'lMinn., a corporation of Delaware vApplication April 20, 1932, Serial No. dil

, 's claims. ist. reefs) so out. As alresult raw coal would be fed to the.

furnace but would notbe ignited because the iire was out, which would result in filling' the fur- 10 nace with unburned coal. It was then necessary to clean out all this unburned' coal andrestart the. fire. If mild weather continued, Athis same condition would occur over and over again w causing al great deal lof. .unnecessary labor and 4 allowing the house to fall below thetemperature at which it was desired to. maintainthe same. In'order. to overcome this 4diiliculty it has 'been proposed to providefa device which would operate" the stoker. even` though the house was 2'6 not calling for heat, in order that the re would be maintained Yat all times and ready to receive more coal'whenever the house became cold. One method of accomplishing this result was the provision of a program switch, or timer, which oper- 5 ated the stoker for five minutes every hour,

l'which period of ilrlng was deemedl sumcient to maintain lire in the'furnace even though the room thermostat did not "start the stoker because of coldness in the house. Another method of maintaining the stoker fire was the provision of a thermosta'tic device which responded" to the temperature of the lire itself, the temperature `of the products of combustion passing through the stack or the temperature of the boiler water which was heated by the In this manner.

whenever any one of these temperatures (depending upon the type of control used) fell below a pref-determined minimum, the stoker would be started up by the thermostatic device to build up the nre sufiiciently to prevent its going out.

In spite of these precautions. it has been found that sometimes the iires -still go out showing the furnace lto b e filled with unburned coal, in the same manner as in the old systems wherein no 45 the maintainingmeans were provided. Manything, 'the condition lleven worse with one of \theimproved systems of control when the tire goes out. since the'stoker is operated either once every hour or asa result of minimum heat conditions at the furnace. inddition to its being' operated by therocm thermostat when thehouse s became cold. -In the case of these improved systems, therefore, whenv the nre becomes, extinq guished, the furnace willbe iilled with unburned l coal even more quickly than would be the case in the' old systems, in spite of the precautionary measures taken.

One of the objects of the present invention.

vtherefore is the provision in combination with aniautomaticcontrol system tor stokers, of a device which will prevent the operation of the stoker at anytime when the'fire has become extinguished. More specifically, this invention resides in the provision of a thermostaticdevice subject to a m" furnace condition such as the temperature of the, boiler water, the ytemperature of the nre itself'or the temperature oi the products of combustion. which .device will open the stoker circuit whenever the 'temperature falls below a pre- 1'5 determined point, indicating that in all probability the firehas become extinguished.

This invention is intended to cover-the use of such devices in any type of stoker control system whether or not it is provided with a' means for 2-"0 preventing extinguishment ofthe fire and regardless of the type of such means if one is used. v

A further object of the invention is the provision of a device which will prevent operation o! the stoker if it appears that .the stoker re 2'5 has become extinguished, but whichwill, if the stoker nre should for any reason increasein lntensity, automatically restore the system to normal control. i Y.

lStill another object of mydnvention is the 30 provision of a device which :will prevent operation of the stoker if it appears that the stoker fire has been extinguished, but in which the device may be set'manuallyv when the ire, is rekindled, so that the system will resume automatic 35" operation, when the fire once more reaches its normal proportions.`

A further object of the invention is the provision of an improved thermostatic switch for carrying out the above improvements in stoker 40 reference may be had to the following descriptionv and accompanying drawings, in which: 50

Figure l isawirin'g diagramshowingthe invention in conjunction with a single contact f room thermostat and thermostatic means for preventing the extinguishment oi the lire;

me z discloses a system of stoker central 55a 2 cocasse embodying the present invention in conjunction Figure 5 is a front view of my improved stoker switch;

Figure 5A is a fragmentary front view showing the lock-out switch held closed by the manually operable means for this purpose; and

Figure 6 shows one of the details of my improved stoker switch.

Referring first to Figures 4, 5, and 8, it will be noted that the stolzer switch is housed in a case I, which is provided with an opening surrounded by flange 2, secured in place by screws 3. A tubular extension 4 is provided with an expanded end I and this tubular extension is passed through the opening in case I so that its expanded end 5 engages flange 2. A disc 0 substantially fills the opening in case I and abuts the periphery of the expanded end l of tubular extension 4 and this disc is held in place by means of washers 1 which are secured by screws 3. An operating handle l is secured to disc 3 by any suitable means, such as rivets, and extends through a slot 3 in case I and terminates in an indicator Il. A tubular member which is concentric with and inside 'of extension 4 is secured at one -end to disc 0, by means of inturned lugs, as shown at I2, and its other cn'd is secured to one end of a helically coiled bimetallic element I3, as indicated at I4. A shaft Il has one of its ends secured to the free end of bimetallic 'element I3, asshown at I6, and extends through the coil formed by this element, through disc t, operating handle 8 and into the interiorl of case I. A

scale plate I1 is secured to the interior of case I by any suitable means, such as the screws shown at I8, and exrtends through slot I in case I. Scale plate I1 is provided with high, low .and intermediate graduations for co-operation with indicator III in order that the base temperature to which the device responds may be adjusted.

Acamplate Il,whichissecuredtocollar2l, is mounted on the free end of shaft Il bymeans of said collar. The cam plate I3 is substantially semi-circular in shape but has 'a cam surface provided in its periphery, as shown at 23. Cam plate Il is also provided with aslot 2| of irreg ularshape. Theslot2| isprovideiiwitltialtraight- 'mentwithshaft Il. Apin 23 opening andis.securedtoextension21. -Aleaf spring 2| has1one endsecuredtcextension-lhaa shown at 33, and its otherend is provided with anopeningsoastcallowthcm ofpinll therethrough. A U-shaped actuated member 3| is pivoted on pin and the upwardlyextend- -lng lega thereofare'provided with'slots 32. -A

YVpin 33 extends through the slots 32 and into slot ifialso clamps an indicator 34 to one of the' r legs of member 3|, which indicator withgraduations35 carried by said leg. A star shaped friction washer 36 is next placed on pin 23 followed by a mercury switch holder 31 and then a washer 38 after which pin 28 is peened over. Leaf spring 29 exerts pressure against member 3| so that member 3| and switch holder 31 are coupled together by means of friction washer 36 and at all times rotate together about pin 23. The pressure exerted by leaf spring 29 is sufficient to maintain member 3| and mercury switch holder 31 in any position to which they may be moved. A mercury switch I39 is carried by holder 31. This mercury switch will hereinafter be termed the lire maintaining switch.

The operation of this part of the device is as follows: With the indicator I0 set at any desired point, temperature changes at the bimetallic element I3 result in rotation of shaft I5 which in turn rotates cam plate I9.v 'I'he edges formed by slot 2| engage pin 33 to move member 3| and in turn tilt the mercury switch 39. It will be noted that the graduations 35 are evenly spaced and in order for each graduation to represent the same number of degrees in temperature change, it has been necessary to provide the peculiar 4configuration of slot 2|. With pin 33 moved up to such a position that indicator 34 is opposite graduation A, the extended end of pin 33 will be in the elongatedportion designated 25 of -slot 2|. Under these conditions, as cam plate I3 is rotated back and forth in response totemperature changes at bimetallic element I3, re maintaining switch 39 will be tilted back and forth without any lost motion. As indicator. is moved downwardly to positions B, C, D, etc., the end of pin 33 will move into progressively wider parts of the slot 2| so thatl there will be an increased amount of lost motion between cam plate I9 and pin 33 so as to provide an adjustable differential in the operation of nre maintaining switch 39. It has been formerly stated the pressure exerted by leaf spring 23 is sumcient to hold fire maintaining switch 39 and member 3| in any position to which it may be moved by the lost motion connection provided by pin 33 and slot 2|. In former instruments, the mercury switch, after having moved past the center. has been allowed to continue rotating by gravity to the extent of the lost motion connection. This feature has been eliminated `herein for a specific reason since it has been found that the lead wires to the mercury switch tend to hold the mercury switch in some one of its positions and even tend to move the switch back to suchposition when the force acting thereon has been removed. lThe pressure set up by leaf spring 29 is suflicient to overcome this tendency of the leads of the mercury switch and maintains it in any podtion to which it isA moved by cam plate 33. The result is positive and accurate operation of the instrument. AdJustment of indicator I0 rotates tubular member II to adjust the fixed end of the bimetallic element Ilso as to change the base temperature setting of the instrument..

` A bell-crank. is pivoted on a. pin 4| carried by case I and has a substantially horizontal arm to which is secured a mercury'switch holder 42,

mercury switch -will hereafter be termed the lock-out switch." The other arm of the bellcrank is substantially vertically disposed and is provided with an adjustable extension 44 which carries a pin 45 at its end, the pin being adapted to co-operate or ride upon the periphery of cam plate Il. A cam 43 is pivoted to cam plate I3.

Ywhich in turn carries a mercury switch 43. This as shown at 41, and is biased normally into engagement with a pin 48 by means of a coiled spring 49. The cam 49, when it is in engagement with pin 43, serves as an extension ofthe periphery of cam plate I9, so that in effect the periphery of the cam plate I9 extends in a perfect radius beyond the cut-in cam portion 20. A bracket 50 is` secured to the lowermost portion of case i and Journals a vertical movable rod 5I which is normally biased `to move downwardly by means of a. spring 32, one end of which abuts the bracket 50 and the other end of which abuts a washer secured to or an enlarged portion 53 formed in rod 5I. The upper portion of rod II is slotted as at 54 to pivotally receive a catch 55. Catch 55 is provided with a downwardly extending nger 56 and also with a notch 51 located at its upper portion. The substantially horizontal arm of bell-crank 40 is provided with a bent-over extension 58 which overlies catch I5 and under certain conditions engages notch 91.

The part of the thermostatic switch just de- 'scribed above comprises the means for shutlock-out switch 43 and then due to a change of winddirection or for some other cause the re picks up, increasing the temperature of element I3, cam plate I9 will be rotated in a counterclockwise direction. Pin 45. will bear against the lower edge of cam 49 rotating the same in a clockwise direction against the action of the spring 49. On continued rise in temperature pin 45 will ride up cam surface 20 until it reaches the radial periphery of cam plate I9 whereupon cam 46 will be returned to its normal position abutting pin 43. Cut-out switch 43 is movedto closed position by this action. c

It should be noted that there is a temperature differential between opening of lock-out switch 43 and closing thereof under these conditions.- In

close automatically. however, the temperature must rise sumciently for pin 4I torotate cam 46 about its pivot and ride up on cam surface 29 until it engages the radial periphery of cam plate I9.

The stoker cannot be operated when lock-out switch 43 has moved to open circuit position as will'be hereinafter more fully explained.V If the fire goes completely out, it may of course be rekindled manually and built up until the temperature to which element I3 responds has'become sufficiently high to move lock-cut' switchY `43 to closed -circuit position after which automatic operation will-be'resumed as above explained. Or-

dinarily, however, it will be desired to only start the nre manually and then let the stoker build up the fire. In order to accomplish this result it is necessary/"that lock-out switch 43 may be `manually moved to closed circuit position and If for any reason the temperay bymeans of cam plate I9 and cam 49. If this operation is desired, the rod Il is moved upwardly until finger 58 of catch I5 rests on bracket 30 and the left'fhand edge of slot 51 engages the I -left side of extension I3 and moves bell-crank 49 in counter-clockwise direction until lock-out switch 43-is in closed circuit-position (see Fig.` 5A). This movement of bell-crank 40 positions pin 45 so that it will readily ride upon cam 46 when the temperature vof element I3 has been restored. Rod 5I is maintained infits raised position by finger 39 resting on bracket 50 and 56 is heldin this position by the engagement of notch 51 with the left side of extension 58. When the temperature of element I3 rises sufdciently cam 49 will move counter-clockwise until it picks up pin 45`and moves it slightly to the left. This causes extension V53 to be moved up out of engagement with notch 51 whereupon spring 52 will move rod 5I downto the positionk shown in Figure 5.

It will be noted that this combined instrument has several adjustments. First theindicator I@ may be moved to adjust what might be called the base temperature at which the fire maintaining switch '39 will be moved to closed position by engagement of pin 33 with straight portion 22 of` slot4 2|. Adjustment of pin 33 vertically changes Vthe differential between opening and closing movements of switch 39`and, lastly, adjustable extension 44 changes the temperature at which lock-out switch 43 will be operated in relation to the base temperature setting.

In order to protect bimetallic element I3 from motor BI is energized through the following circuit: Line 62,-room thermostat 90, conductor 63,

Jconductor 64, lock-out switch 43, conductor 65,

limit control 96, stoker motor BI and, line 81. It will be noted that the room thermostat cannot start stoker motor 8l if lock-out switch 43 is in open circuit position. If the room-'is suiliciently warm but thetemperature conditioner the furnace drops to such a degree-.that the' fire might go out, fire maintaining switch 39 is moved to closed position lestablishing the following circuit: line y32, conductor 33, nre maintaining switch 39. conductor 94. lock-out switch 43, con- :sisk

ductor 8l, limit control 39,-' conductor 39, .stoker i motorl and line 31. t will again be noted that the fire maintaining means represented by mer- 'ature and breaksafter I2 on a rise in temperature. Lines I3 and 'I4 supply current to the primary 15 ofy a transformer. The oom is lshown as warm but the fire maintaining switch 39 is c closed, setting up the following circuit: secondary 10 of the transformer, conductor 11. lockd out switch I3, conductors 10, 10. fire maintaining switch I0, conductor 00, relay coil and conductor 02 to secondary 10. Energization of relay coil 0| has closed switches 0I and 04, the latter of which energizes stoker motor 0| as follows: line 10, conductor Il, stoker motor 0I, conductor 00, switch 0I and conductor 01. It will be noted that the circuit for relay coil 0| cannot be completed unless lock-out switch I3 is in closed circuit position. When the fire has been built up sumciently, switch 20 will open and de-energize relay coil 0| to thereby discontinue operation of stoker motor 6I. If the room temperature falls, contact 1| first closes and then contact l12 closes setting up the following circuit for lrelay coil 0|: secondary 10, conductor 11, lock-out switch 43, conductors 18, 00, contacts 1I and 12, conductors 00, 00, relay coil 0| andconductor 02 back to secondary 10. closes relay switches 0| and 0I, the -latter of which energizes stolzer motor 6| as above explained and the former of which clos a holding circuit for relay coil 0| which is dependent only on contact 1| and not on contact 12. This holding circuit is as follows: secondary 10, conductor 11, lock-out switch 43, conductors 10, 00,

. contact 1|, thermostat 10, conductor 00,'switch Il, conductor 0|, relay coil 0l and conductor 82 back to 10. It will be noted that here again both the starting circuit and the holding circuit for relay coil 0|, as energized by the room thermostat 10, are dependent upon lock-out switch 40 being in the closed circuit position.

Figure 3 shows the manner in which my invention may be applied to a double contact type room thermostat. In this instance the fire maintaining switch a and the lock-out switch 43a are ofthe type which make a circuit in both their hot and cold positions. The parts in Figure 3 are shown with the lock-out switch a in hot position and the fire maintaining switch 30a in cold position and the room thermostat 02 midway between its.hot and cold contacts 03 and 04 respectively. The line wires, and primary and secondary of the transformer are again denoted 1I, 14, 1l, and 10 respectively. With 30a in its cold position the followingA circuit is set up: secondary 10, conductor 00, conductor 00, cold contacts 01 of fire maintaining switchlla, conductors 00,` 00, hot contacts |00 of lock-out switch 43a, conductors 10|, |02, pull coil |03 of the relay mnt. and conductor |04 back to secondary 16. Energisation of I 03 closes switches |05, |00, and |01, the latter of which controls the stoker motor .0| as in Figure 2. Contacts |00 establish the following holding circuit for relay coil |03: secondary 1 0, conductor 0l. conductor |00, switch |00. conductor |01. pull coil |00, conductor |00 to 10. It will be seen that opening of contacts -01 or |00 will not de-energize pull 'coil |02. If the fire v should die out, however, cold contacts |00 of lock- If the room becomes coldr closing contacts 04, an

energizing circuit :or pull con les is established as folle, 10, conductors Il, l2, 04,

Energization of relay coil .0| again accesos Energlzation of coil |03 again closes switches |05,

|06, and |01 as above explained. With the stoker operating and the fire burning, both the room thermostat 92 and the nre maintaining switch 39* must reach their hot positions before the stoker will be shut down. This circuit for energizing neutralizing coil ||3 to allow switches |05,l

|06, and |01 to open is as follows: secondary 16, 05, 92, contacts 03, conductor IIB, hot contacts H0 of nre maintaining switch 38a, conductors H1, H2, neutralizing coil '||3, switch |05, an conductor |00 to 10.

From the foregoing it will be seen that by my invention I have provided an improvement in stoker control systems which may be applied to any of the well known thermostatic control cir-` cuits. Although no high-*limit control has been shown in the diagrams of Figures 2 and 3, they could well be inserted since such instruments are standard devices which are on the open market. y Although in all of the description and draw-l ings mercury switches have been used in the device which is subject to furnace conditions, it is to be understood that open contacts could easily be substituted without changing the operation of the.'various systems. Likewise, mercury switch room thermostats could be substituted for the open contact room thermostat shown and described.

It should be further understood that my novel lock-out control-for preventing operation of the stoker when the fire has become' extinguished can equally well be applied to those stoker systems in which it is attempted to maintain the fire at plained herein.

'I'his means of preventing operation of the stoker may also be applied to thosel systems in which the fire maintaining mechanism for maintaining the fire during periods of mild weather is omitted.

In the claims. the term nre maintaining switch will be used to include any switching mechanism (open contacts or mercury switches, temperature responsive or time controlled) which is intended to prevent extinguishment of the re during mild weather or low heat requirement conditions. The term lock-out switch will be used to include any switching mechanism for preventing operation of the stoker when the fire is extinguished. 'me expression responsive to a furnace condition will include any condition directly responsive to the temperature of the fire such as temperature of the products of combustion in the combustion pot, stack or intermediate passages, the temperature of the fuel bed or heatI given oi! thereby or the temperature or.

pressurenof the fluid circulating medium at the furnaceor boiler and heated thereby. The expression "temperature of the products of 'combustion will include' the temperature of the. fuel bed or gases leaving the same and passing to the chimney of the furnace to boiler. The term "mercury switch" as used in the claims is intended to include only those switches which are self contained and comprise an envelope, twvo or more electrodes therein and a fluid body of conducting'materiaLfor bridging said electrodes when the envelope is tilted in one direction.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a system for controlling the temperature of a space having a furnace, the combination of, means for supplying fuel to the furnace, means responsive to space temperatures for controlling said fuel supplying means, means responsive to furnace temperatures for preventing operation of said fuel supplying means when the fire becomes substantially extinguished, yand latch means for operating said last mentioned responsive means to permit operation of said fuel supplying means.

2. In a system for controlling the temperature of a space having a furnace, the combination of, means for supplying fuel to the furnace, means responsive to space temperatures for controlling said fuel supplying means, means responsive to furnace. temperatures for preventing operation of said fuel supplying means when the re becomes substantially extinguished, latch means for opn erating said last mentioned responsive means to permit operation of said fuel supplyingmeans, and means for releasing said latch means and controllingV said last mentioned responsive means when the fire is restored.

3. In a system for controlling the temperature of a space having a furnace, the combination of means for supplying fuel to the furnace, means responsive to space temperatures for controlling said fuel supplying means, means responsive to furnace temperature for controlling said fuel supplying means, means responsive to furnace temperatures for preventing operation of said fuel supplying means by either of said responsive means ,if the fire becomes substantially extinguished, and latch means for operating said last mentioned responsive means to permit operation of said fuel supplying means.

4. In a system for controlling the temperature of a space having a furnace, the combination of means for supplying fuel to the furnace, means responsive to space temperatures for controlling said fuel supplying means, means responsive to furnace temperature for controlling said fuel supplying means, means responsive to furnace temperatures for preventing operation of said fuel supplying means by either of said responsive means if the fire becomes substantially extinguished, latch means for operating said last mentioned responsive means to permit operation of said fuel supplying means, and means for releasing said latch means and controlling said last mentioned responsive means when the nre is restored.

5. In a system having a furnace for controlling the temperature of a space, the combination of means for supplying fuel to the furnace, means responsive to space temperatures for controlling said fuel supplying means, means to operate said fuel supplying means to maintain the fire alive when the system is operating under W heat requirement conditions, means responsive to furnace temperatures for preventing operation of said fuel supplying means either by said space temperature responsive means or said last named means if the fire becomes substantially extinguished, and latch means for operating said last mentioned responsive means to permit operation of said fuel supplying means.

SYLVANUS C. SHIPLEY. 

